SHOP

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October 2009

October 31, 2009

Chris took some friends to the airport this morning and called to say he was stopping on the way home to take the children out for breakfast. I had costumes to make, costumes that I swore up & down I would not be finishing at the eleventh hour. The day was mine (and much needed!) The boys decided to carve pumpkins when they got home and there was the inevitable overheard conversation about the 'puking pumpkin' from the patio which minutes later caused Henry to run into the house in a frenzy "I need the bag of pumpkin guts!!!" The costumes were finished a few hours ahead of time, phew, so... what were the little ducklings you ask? I introduce you to R2D2:Henry is totally into robots right now. He'd been swaying back & forth between being Wall-e and R2d2, and in the end, R2D2 won. I was glad, R2D2 seemed so much more doable than Wall-e. And Kate, well, she went as a grumpy garden gnome (and played the part oh so well)She has been sick and grumpy for the last few days and there was no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that hat was staying on for longer than 2.5 seconds. Last minute I decided to not use the previous flowers I posted about, but ones that were much bigger, which I ended up liking a lot more. And a little basket for gathering her treats. Too bad I forgot it and left it at home. Boo on that. Good thing we had a perfectly good gnome hat that was not being used. So there you have it, R2D2 & Grumpy Garden Gnome:I'm quite partial to them. They were troopers in their costumes. Henry loved the tights. I think next year we'll just send him out in tights & a turtleneck. He'd be happy as a clam. After the trunk-or-treat at church we drove though some local neighborhoods and Henry got out a few time to trick-or-treat.

I love this image so much:The little R2 silhouette, and those skinny little legs, oh I love this boy.

October 28, 2009

I feel like I've been hit by a freight train. I've been sick since Saturday. Oy oy oy. Body aches, sore throat, sniffles, it's been a killer. I'm so behind on Halloween costumes. Kate's blue felt dress had to be made twice. 18 mo's/ 2T- they are similar...or so I thought. The 2T was gigantic and so the entire dress had to be remade. I'm glad though, the smaller version is such a better fit on her.Anyway- I've never made real people clothes out of felt before, have you? Probably not, I mean why would you make real people clothes out of craft felt??I'm very excited about Kate's costume. It's going to be adorable (and a little bit hilarious.) Henry, well he keeps changing his mind. I'm going to have to just pick one and run with it. We'll be on the hunt tomorrow for costume parts (which has been a challenge thus far.)

October 21, 2009

We made it, oh yes we made it. We are home and getting the very last few Halloween decorations out. It's a good thing I hadn't started Henrys' yet as he has completely changed his mind as to what he wants to be. Phew, that was close.I've got just over a week to crank out two costumes, which I have a feeling are going to keep me very busy. I went to Joann this evening for some supplies and the lady at the cutting table told me I looked very tired (and when is that baby coming out??) Thanks for that. Guess what? I'm beyond tired, lady! I was going through the Halloween bins and realized I have a lot of these vintage trick-or-treat bags. So many, that I'm sure I'll never use all of them so I'm going to put them in the shoppe on Thursday. I think I have around 5 or 6 packages and each package has 50 treat bags (bags are in original packaging) I know we are getting awfully close to Halloween so I'll make sure they ship out the same day they are ordered vis first class mail. Oh, and they'll be $10 for a package of 50. I think they are pretty swell!

October 18, 2009

Me and my brother, Matt (a.k.a. one of the best substitute papa's to have around when the real one can't be there) took the children on a Sunday drive around the Alpine Loop this afternoon. I was worried we might have missed the best of it as it was a bit bare at the top, but as we rounded down to AF the colors got more & more breathtaking.As the seasons change, I've been thinking a lot about the changes our little family will be experiencing in the next few weeks. Thinking about how adding another child can split your attention even more. Thinking about how I will be able to give them all they need making sure that days aren't spent just going through the motions. I've been thinking alot about this quote:

"Above all else, children need to know and feel they are loved, wanted,
and appreciated. They need to be assured of that often. Obviously, this
is a role parents should fill, and most often the mother can do it
best.

--Ezra Taft Benson

"Loved, wanted & appreciated often." On the most challenging of days, I am most certain that if all I have to give is that, I can do it.

October 16, 2009

I should have known the evening was off to a rocky start when Kate decided to climb into the bath WITH ALL HER CLOTHES AND SHOES ON. "MOM!!! Kate fell in the bath!!!" yelled Henry. I tear in there and she's happily playing with bath toys (of course.) Earlier in the afternoon I had started a batch of challah for Azucars' Housewarming Basket. I love a good challah. So it's rising, while I'm bathing the kids. I turn on the oven in hopes of warming up the place to help with the rise. Kate doesn't want to go to sleep. I briefly forget about the bread until it has risen so much, it's practically risen off the cookie sheet. I cook it anyway, but I don't hear the timer go off because I'm still trying to get Kate to sleep (read: I can't hear it over her loud shrills.) All I want is challah for the basket. Is that too much to ask? It burned. Kate, on queue, falls asleep shortly thereafter. Basically, this all means, I blame Kate. Sorry, Azucar, your freshly baked loaf of challah will have to wait.

October 12, 2009

Last Sunday we went to my Aunt Ellen's house for dinner (well, we kind of invited ourselves and therefore thought it only appropriate to bring the main dish.) Ellen is a big fan of salmon and I instantly thought of this recipe that was posted by reader Brittney.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
On a foil-lined baking sheet, place the 4 pieces of puff pastry. Also
place the 4 pieces of salmon, being careful to make sure they are not
touching. Sprinkle each piece of salmon with 1 tablespoon of the sliced
almonds. Bake for 10 minutes.

To serve, place each piece of puff pastry on a plate. Top each puff
pastry with 1 tablespoon of pesto. Top the pesto with 2 slices of
tomatoes each. Top the tomatoes with the salmon and serve.

We had about 6 adults and 2 kids, so we cut up roughly 8 pieces of puff pastry and put them on one baking sheet and put all the salmon on a separate baking sheet and baked at the same time. The salmon was drizzled with a little olive oil & kosher salt and pepper. This was also a good recipe for the kids because I could fed them the salmon sans the pesto, which they both liked. Also we used a big spoonful of pesto for each piece of salmon. Overall, very good. This is something you'll definitely need to plan for (do most people have salmon, puff pastry or pesto on hand?) but it was worth the planning. This would also be great for a party by making everything miniature (small pieces of salmon on puff pastry) Oh and Chris has issues with tomatoes... I know, sac-relig so we nixed them on this recipe.

Thanks, Brittney!

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I think we've made 2 or 3 other recipes from the comments, so I'll be posting those soon.

October 11, 2009

A whole week already? It was a busy one. We went to the farm last Monday to pick some pumpkins. Henry and I had spent the whole weekend getting out our Halloween decorations (2+ bins that are still quite full!) I'm glad I have a little holiday-lover, it makes them so much more fun to celebrate. I am panicking a little that it's almost mid-October. There are still 2 costumes to make (I'm not budging on this- their costumes have to be handmade) and with a baby who is set to arrive next month, I'm feeling like Christmas needs to be all wrapped up before his arrival as I am sure I won't want to do a thing after he's born. I drove the kids up to Utah this weekend for one last little getaway. It's chilly here. I had to go and buy them both socks yesterday. Neither of them own a single pair. We never ever wear socks. Flip-flops, salt-waters, there's just no need for them in Los Angeles. Kate was so weirded out today when I tried to put them on her. Henry resisted too, but then later could not resist putting his feet in my face after pulling his socks off "see they aren't stinky!" (I'd still rather go for the stink.) Okay, I lied. I think Kate has 1 or 2 pair, as evidenced in the above photo of her on her first pony ride at the farm. It was chilly that day. Anyway, she loved riding on Marshmallow. Henry chose this pumpkin. Apparently it is of the 'millionaire' variety (at least that's what the lady at checkout told us...and why it was twice the cost of the other pumpkins...humph?)Kate was happy as a clam with this little one and I think it suits her perfectly.Looking forward to a fun, and hopefully relaxing, week here in Utah. Hoping baby doesn't decide to come early (what am I thinking- both babies went a week past their due date!) and still trying to justify that it's perfectly acceptable to try to pass off wearing my black stretchy straight-legged pajama bottoms as regular people pants whilst in public. At this point even the maternity clothes are getting a bit well, ahem....snug. I just need the comfort people!